UAE agency triumphs at Middle East PR awards; Independent agency d’pr beats international agencies to the prestigious Agency of the Year title

Dubai, December 5, 2010: Representing a momentous success for home-grown Middle East communications services, regional public relations agency d’pr pulled off an historic victory at the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) Awards 2010, taking home four awards including the inaugural Agency of the Year crown.

The Dubai-based agency, which is only six-years-old, also scooped the ‘Young Communicator of the Year’ Award, the ‘CSR & Community Award’ for its Stay Alert, Stay Alive campaign for BMW, and the ‘Business to Business Award’ for its campaign surrounding the Gulf Education Supplies & Solutions show 2010.

d’pr Managing Director Camilla d’Abo said: “This is vindication of everything we’ve set out to achieve as an agency. We have consistently won and retained business due to our commitment to having a bespoke approach to each client and our passion for what we do. We maintain that our regional knowledge and insight coupled with exceptional levels of client servicing and a commitment to creative, bespoke strategies would achieve long term results, and this has proven to be the case.”

Independently established, run and managed, is something d’pr is hugely proud of. “Being ‘home-grown’ we believe leads to better insight and understanding of the unique operating conditions in this region. Not being able to leverage global associations to win business or bring in staff from other offices could be viewed as a disadvantage, but we’ve turned it into a positive. We are more flexible, less bureaucratic and more personalised. Ultimately we believe this allows us to deliver a better level of service and client results.”

Emirati PR Manager Jamal Al Mawed was named ‘Young Communicator of the Year’ for his outstanding work with clients such as BMW and National Bonds. Al Mawed has been with the agency for two years and in that time has demonstrated an outstanding attitude and aptitude as a champion for Middle East Arabic PR professionals, qualities that clearly impressed the MEPRA judges.

“Jamal is a perfect example of how our commitment to developing young Arab talent is paying dividends. What we’ve achieved this year is amazing, but just as importantly we are building a vibrant, dynamic team to ensure our future is even brighter,” said Camilla. “Ultimately it’s all about achieving measurable and relevant results for our clients and we believe the best way to guarantee that is by making sure we have a team comprising the most talented PR practitioners in the region.

The MEPRA Awards were decided by an independent panel of 21 judges chaired by Tim Harrison, Head of Communications for HSBC Middle East.

 

Chair of the judging panel, Tim Harrison commented: “The overall standard of the submissions was exceptional which made the process much more challenging and fulfilling. In the scoring process judges tended to favour campaigns with a high level of difficulty – sensitive or complex issues that needed careful handling – as well as those showing alignment with business goals. As ever, creativity and strong results were the key parameters for a successful campaign.”

Website: www.d-pr.ae

About d’pr

d’pr is a full service PR consultancy offering integrated communications solutions with its sister agency events specialist, d’events. The agency prides itself on delivering creative and innovative PR campaigns, providing strategic consultation on external public relations initiatives, and the implementation of regional media outreach activities.

The business serves a cross section of over 30 brands specialising in banking and finance, real estate, hospitality and retail. Specialist sector knowledge and a network of in-country partners guarantees in-depth, measurable communication campaigns throughout the MENA region.

About d’events

d’events was launched in Dubai in 2004 as a corporate events agency. The scope of services comprise brand and product launches, corporate hospitality, sports events and industry conferences.

In 2010 d’events has delivered over 50 events for brands including Nokia, Montblanc, HSBC, Daily Mail Group, Imperial Tobacco Group, Cartier, Rolls Royce and BMW.

BPG Group and BLUE in a JV for MENA

UAE, Dubai, 8^th September, 2010: BPG Group (Bates PanGulf LLC), one of the larger marketing solutions groups in the Middle East, today shared information on its latest joint venture. BPG BLUE - a new digital arm formed to bring the best-in-class digital marketing solutions to the MENA region. Acquiring some good wins, BPG Blue has had a great start and the company aims to increase awareness and education on the importance of digital solutions in the marketing mix.

BPG BLUE, a joint venture between BPG Group and BLUE-Interactive, combines BPG’s local market know-how with BLUE’s proven expertise in the digital domain. BLUE, a WPP Digital Company, headquartered in Singapore specializes in measurable marketing solutions by leveraging 4 broad sets of capabilities namely, Strategic Planning, Engagement Services, Infrastructure Operations and Measurement & Optimization.

Commenting on the JV, Oz Aksugur, Worldwide Chief Operating Officer, BLUE, said: “We have been looking at the MENA region for a while. Digital marketing budgets in MENA are a fraction of those in USA & Europe and offers tremendous room for growth. However key to tapping opportunity is in finding the right partner and in BPG we saw the right culture and business fit. BPG’s focus on a holistic approach to marketing solutions is consistent with our philosophy & approach to digital marketing. ”

                        

Mr Avi Bhojani, Group Chief Executive of BPG Group, said; “While the internet penetration in Middle East is around 28%, Bahrain, UAE and Qatar are on par with US (75%) and on the top at 88%, 76% and 52% respectively. This is a great reflection on what is in store for us in the digital space in the region. We are already witnessing growth in online advertising spends and growth rate is much higher than the traditional media.”

The last two years has seen dramatic changes in the adverting landscape, while the traditional print and outdoor mediums have witnessed a decline, the gainers have been Cinema, Radio, Television and Digital. Digital Marketing topping the list has witnessed 500% growth in the last two years.

Commenting on the tie-up Avi added. “Clients in the region seek world-class solutions across all elements of their business mix. They want the best and it’s in the BPG DNA to strive to deliver the best. With the addition of BLUE to the BPG portfolio, the group has enhanced the range of solutions and is poised to support the next level of growth for the group.”

BLUE has a roster of blue-chip MNC clients that include SAP, Motorola, HP, Singapore Airlines, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Gillette, Aviva, Standard Chartered Bank and many more.